The Most Memorable Moment
by Mrs.JohnnyCade220
Summary: Clay Cortese was just an average student from an average high school seeking a more than average title. However, he goes a bit too far with a school prank in order to win the name "Most Memorable". When his parents decide to send him to a boarding school, he thinks it's the end of the world. Will he be able to win his title as Most Memorable from inside the walls of A.S. Prep?
1. Chapter 1

I stared at the wall, preparing for a lecture. The water I was nervously sucking down burned my throat like tiny icicles, nearly matching the temperature of my blood. I looked down at my hands. They were shaking, clammy, and white, and I was sure that the rest of me looked the same way. I quickly wiped my free hand on my pants and took a deep breath. "Calm down, Clay," I told myself. What was the worst thing that could happen? The principal probably just wanted to discuss something else with my parents. It most likely had nothing to do with the fact that I'd just nearly blown up the chemistry lab while attempting to pull off a huge prank.

Durvey, being a large high school in a large town, has had its fair share of pranks. The longest running prank in the school's history has been the award for the most memorable year one student gets named "Most Memorable". They are voted for by the student body. The teachers think it has something to do with their personality or character or something, but everyone here really knows that they won the title by pulling off the biggest, most elaborate prank of the whole year. That's what I was trying to do the moment I stepped into the chem lab after seventh period. Rather than creating the most memorable moment, it was the worst mistake of my life.

"Clay," I heard a rugged yet stern voice say. A shiver ran down my spine. Of course the voice belonged to Principal Thomas. He was watching me with hawk-like eyes from the open doorway. "Please step inside." Hesitantly I got up, leaving my icy water bottle, and walked into the office. I'd been here too many times for my liking.

My father was sitting in one of the oversized chairs, an angry look on his face. I could see that one vein in his forehead pulsing. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but quickly shut it again. My mother, thankfully, was looking a bit more calm. Her expression was emotionless. She sat there with her eyes on me and her lips pursed, waiting for my next move. I knew I was going to get an earful later.

"Please take a seat, Mr. Cortese." I pulled a blue plastic chair from a stack by the wall and set it next to my mother's, awaiting my punishment. "Now, Mr. Cortese, I assume you know why you're here." I thought for a moment to comply, but figured that it might be better to play dumb. Maybe they'd think I was innocent and let me go. "No, sir. I have no idea why I'm here."

Principal Thomas sighed heavily. This was obviously not the answer he was looking for. "Well then, Mr. Cortese, let me explain it to you. You are here because you've committed a very serious offense. Number one: You entered our school's chemistry lab without permission. There was no teacher present, therefore you were not permitted to be in there."

Maybe I'd get off with a warning. That would be nice.

"Number two - You decided to do your own little experiment in there for who knows what reasons. You mixed two chemicals that were clearly labeled not to be mixed."

Service hours. Detention. Saturday school. Maybe even a little summer work. I'd take anything.

"Number three - You put yourself and other students' lives in danger by creating a dangerous chemical reaction. The lab now requires thousands of dollars in repairs, money that we just don't have."

Wait, was I supposed to raise the money? That would take so much work. "Look, Principal Thomas-" I started. He held up a hand to cut me off.

"Let me finish. This is an extremely serious matter, Mr. Cortese. I'm sorry, but I have no choice but to expel you from Durvey High School."

"What?!" I nearly shouted, shocked. I looked over at my father, who was now a sickly shade of red. The vein pulsed more than I've ever seen. "Are you serious? This has got to be a joke. It was just a silly prank!"

"Mr. Cortese, what you do not understand is that your 'silly prank' has caused the school a great deal of damage!"

"Fuck this school!" I shouted, tipping my chair over as I stood. Principal Thomas leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow, shocked and displeased with my outburst. He said nothing more.

"Thank you," my mother said as politely as she could, though she was clearly upset. She shot me a look that could only be described as pure evil as if to urge me out the door. I didn't need to be told twice. Without looking back, I quickly walked from the room and down the sterile hallway. The corridor echoed with every footstep, and I could hear my mother's thin heels and my father's surly stomping following close behind.

My dad drove his own car, probably to the pub where he usually hangs out. My mom waited for me in her minivan while I emptied out my locker into my bookbag. It wouldn't normally take very long, but I dragged it out as long as I could so I wouldn't have to face their rage. I couldn't believe that I'd actually gotten expelled. If this didn't make me Most Memorable, I don't know what would.

As I exited the school, I turned to look at it one last time. I wondered if it would always look this way - old and boring. It made me worried about where I'd have to go next. Could it possibly be worse than Durvey High?

I held my breath as I slipped into the backseat of the van. As if it would help shield me from the pelting of words that was about to hit, I sank as low in my seat as I could. Surprisingly, no pelting came. There was no angry yelling or scorning. It was silent for a while, and the only sound heard was the humming of the engine on the open road.

After a while, my mother spoke up. "What in the world were you thinking, Clay?" Her voice was dripping with disappointment.

"That's just it, Mom. I wasn't thinking at all. I was just doing."

"Why did you do it?"

"I don't know. I'm sorry." I really was. If I knew that all of this was going to happen, I would have never gone into the lab. She just shook her head and there was silence again. I decided that the silence was almost worse than the words themselves. Once I started to get used to it, she spoke up again.

"I'm not going to send you back to school right now. There are only two weeks left and I have plenty of stuff for you to do around the house. Principal Thomas was telling me about another school for you to attend in the fall. He said that the graduation rate is very high and that everyone there is very smart. The tuition doesn't cost that much either."

I thought for a moment, disgusted with the fact that my mother was already bringing up other schools. "Tuition? You mean like a private school? With uniforms and everything?"

She was silent for another minute or two, carefully choosing the right words to say. "Well, yes and no. No uniforms, but it is a private school. Very prestigious. I haven't heard a single bad thing about this school. I was looking it up on my phone earlier and-" "Mom, not to be rude or anything, but I'm not going to a private school."

I could hear her blow a short breath of air out of her nose as she usually does when she's frustrated. "Clay, this is not up for discussion. You aren't really in a position to argue right now. I've already made the arrangements."

"Are you crazy, Mom? Really!?"

"Clay! I feel that this school will be very good for you. Maybe it will teach you a little respect." She pulled into the driveway and shut the car off, getting out without saying another word. I was stunned, frozen in my seat. How could this have happened?

I ran into the house and dropped my loaded bookbag on the kitchen table. My mom had already started cooking dinner. "Where exactly am I going?" I asked her, trying to keep my temper under control.

"Alexander Smith Preparatory High School."

Ew. I cringed at the name. It sounded awful. Without another thought, I ran up the stairs and threw open my door, dropping into my desk chair. I had to find out more about this school. What was so special about it? Why did my mom care about this one so much? I turned my laptop on and waited impatiently as it booted up. It was so _slow _sometimes. As soon as it turned on, I crashed my fingers down on the keyboard. I had to find out what this Alexander Smith whatever whatever school was.

I clicked on the first thing that came up. It led me to a website that was decorated with fancy writing and pictures of kids in sweater vests sitting around in patches of grass. They were laughing and smiling, but anyone could clearly see how fake it looked.

I scrolled down a little to read about it. "Alexander Smith Preparatory High School is a school of great excellence that strives to fine-tune students to become ready for the real world, blah blah blah..."

I clicked on a few other pages, hoping to find some useful information. One tab looked particularly interesting. "Room and Board" was what it said. After a few moments of reading, my heart stopped. This wasn't just a private school, it was a boarding school. My parents were looking to send me away. It couldn't get any worse.


	2. Chapter 2

"No," I said grimly, "no, no no. This is not happening." My mom helped me get my bags out of the trunk. "Oh my God. No. Mom, please. No." She turned to look at me. She smiled, though I could tell that she was upset.

"Please, Clay," she said softly. "Please just do this for me. Go in there and make some friends. Take your classes seriously. Be respectful. If you can do that, you'll be home to take classes back in Durvey by next year."

I groaned and rolled my eyes. I had to spend a whole semester and the summer here. I pulled on my sleeves a little. It was barely summer and already it felt a bit chilly. "Should I help you take your stuff to you room?" she asked.

"No," I said rather quickly. "Just… can you just go check in with the office?" I glanced over at her and realized how I had actually sounded. Her expression was hurt. "I'm sorry. Please?" Without another word, she nodded and walked in the direction (or I'm assuming, the direction) of the front office.

I quickly found that the school was laid out around the classrooms. There was one hallway in the middle full of classrooms, and at the end of the hallway was the cafeteria. In a semi-circle around the classroom hallway were the dorms. They all face the woods. I also quickly found out that beyond the woods is a lake where a lot of the students hang out, but we'll get to that later.

I took my bag to my dorm (room 24C) and looked around. The room was plain and boring. There was a small table under the window that was only large enough for two people, and already there were papers sprawled out all over it. On the opposite wall were two doors, which I assumed were the closet and the bathroom. On the largest wall was a bunk-bed, and the bottom bunk was already taken. I could tell because large piles of messily folded clothes covered the wrinkled sheets. My roommate had already been here.

After a few moments, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. The energy in the room had changed. I could tell that someone was watching me. As I turned around, the strong aroma of some type of floral perfume hit me. There was a girl standing there. It was like she had come out of nowhere. I stepped back, startled, and took a minute to look her over. She had long, curly-ish, dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Freckles dotted her cheeks and nose. She had a small gold stud on the left side of her nose. I wondered if her parents knew about that. She wasn't particularly busty, but she wasn't flat either, and I could really get a good look with the skimpy purple tank top she was wearing. Aside from that, she had on jeans that cut off just below her rear end, and it looked like she had cut them herself. Her feet were bare, revealing her bright pink toenails.

"Well," she said sharply, snapping me out of my trance, "What the hell are you staring at?" I opened and closed my mouth a few times, unable to speak. She raised an eyebrow. "You must be new here." She extended a thin hand towards me. I took it carefully, still wordless. Her hands were soft. "Are you gonna say something or just stand there like an idiot?" she asked rashly.

"Oh! I…I'm, uh, I'm Clay. Clay Cortese. Nice to meet you."

"I'm sure it is," she responded quickly, wiping her hands on her pants. "I'm Dana. Not Donna, not Dina. Dana."

I nodded briskly. "Dana. Got it." There was a short moment of awkward silence before she walked past me and shoved the clothes off of the bottom bunk. She jumped onto the bed and laid down.

"Um," I said confusedly, "is this your bed?"

I could hear her laugh through the pillow that her face was buried in. She sat up for a second. "Oh God, no. Do you honestly think that I'd be allowed to bunk in one of the guys' dorms?" She didn't give me enough time to answer before she said, "It's Josh's."

"Josh?" I asked. That must have been the name of my messy roommate. "Is he your boyfriend?" Why else would she be lying on his bed?

"My boyfriend? Ha! I'd never date that guy in a million years! I mean I love him, but I'd never date him." Curious. At that moment, someone knocked on the jamb of the open door. Dana's head shot up. "Josh!" she screamed. In a flash, she was across the room and into his arms. "Damn, man! I missed you so much! Why'd you have to go away for the summer? I was practically the only one here. Me and Ugly Betty, that is."

He smiled and put her down. "I'm sorry, Day! What can I say? Too much Josh love to go around, not enough time." His dark, brown eyes quickly fell on me. He wasn't much to look at. Sure, he was tall and muscular, but other than that he looked like every other guy. His medium-length, brown hair was spiked up a little in the front and his medium-colored skin was well-tanned. It looked like a real tan, too.

As soon as he saw me, his expression changed. It resembled that of a puppy who had just been asked if he wanted to go for a walk. "Hey, man! How's it going?" he asked, sauntering over with a half-handshake, half-pat on the back. I was slightly confused by his friendliness. "You're the new roommate, I'm assuming? I'm Josh. I see you've already met Dana. Don't worry, she's all bark and no bite."

"Sometimes," Dana threw in with a scowl.

Josh laughed. It was an open, airy laugh that would make anyone feel comfortable around him. "Yeah, okay. And what's your name, tiger?" he asked inquisitively.

"Clay Cortese. Nice to meet you," I offered. He grinned and looked around.

"So how are you liking the place so far?"

"I haven't seen much."

"No? Well then, how about we take you around?"

I thought about it for a moment. I didn't really need to unpack my stuff until later. "Okay," I said slowly, "but I have to find my mom. She'll want me to say goodbye." Dana snorted. I could tell what she was thinking.

"That's fine. We'll all go find her," Josh replied. I was glad that my roommate was turning out to be such a nice person. It almost made up for his extreme messiness.

It didn't take long to find my mom. She was standing in the middle of the courtyard, looking furiously at a map. "Mom!" I called. She looked up quickly, relief washing over her face.

"Clay! There you are. Did you find your room alright?"

"Yes, and this is my roommate, Josh," I said, gesturing to the guy standing next to me.

"It's great to meet you, Ms. Cortese. I'm sure your son will love it here," he said, extending a hand. My mother took it. To my surprise, he leaned down and brushed his lips lightly against my mother's hand. It made my cheeks feel hot.

"Oh, my!" she giggled. Yes, my mother _giggled_. "Such a nice boy. Thank you." After Josh released her hand, I stepped to the side and gestured behind me.

"And this is Dana. She's Josh's friend."

My mom looked behind me, then back to me. She gave a faint smile, raising an eyebrow. I turned to see what she looked so puzzled about. Josh laughed. Dana was gone. She had disappeared just as silently as she had appeared in my room.


	3. Chapter 3

"We call her The Ninja. She literally appears and disappears in a second. There have been rumors that she escaped from some freaky roadside show," Josh was saying about Dana. He obviously saw the horror on my face, because he laughed and added, "but we all know that those are just rumors. She's from Nebraska. At first she may seem like a tough cookie, but she's really sweet once you get to know her."

I liked listening to Josh talk. There was something extremely genuine about his words. He was someone you could trust. "What about you?" I asked, looking up at him. He was at least five inches taller than me.

"Me? I was born and raised in Florida." That explained the tan. "My parents and I lived just north of Miami. I visit them every summer."

"Did you have a lot of friends there?" I asked. I don't know why I felt compelled to ask such a personal question.

He just smiled. "Of course. I had tons of friends, a beautiful girlfriend too. I came here my freshman year. For the first semester, I still tried to make it work with her. We video chatted every night and wrote old-fashioned letters back and forth for a while. Then suddenly she stopped replying." His expression looked nostalgic.

"Did you ever find out why?" I asked. He was silent for a moment. I'd probably pushed a limit. We stopped outside of the cafeteria, where there was a vending machine. Carefully, Josh removed a dollar from his pocket and stuck it in the machine. After he pushed a few buttons, it spit out a Snickers bar.

"Do you want something?" he asked. I shook my head. I couldn't ask him to buy me anything. He ignored my decline and pushed a few more buttons, handing me a bag of M&Ms.

"Dude, these are my favorite," I said, blinking. "How'd you know?"

He just shrugged. "You seemed like an M&M kind of guy."

I grinned and tore open the bag. "Thanks."

A few minutes later we were walking back on the path that led to the dorms. Instead of going into the dorm, we walked around it. There was an unpaved, beaten path behind it. "Where are we going?" I asked.

"You'll see. Trust me." There was another long pause. "You asked me why my girlfriend and I stopped talking, right?" I nodded. "She stopped replying to my messages. She wasn't answering my chat requests. My best friend called my a week later. He sounded pretty distraught. This whole time," he started laughing a little, "I thought she was dead or something. So my buddy called me up and he was like, 'dude, it's about Emily'. That was my girlfriend's name. It turns out that she was cheating on me with some guy from our town's McDonald's." Now he was cracking up. "And the whole time I thought she was dead!"

I didn't see what was so funny about the whole thing, but I laughed along anyway. Josh pulled back some branches that were covering the path so that we could walk through them. "It's getting dark, Josh. Shouldn't we be heading back?" I asked.

"Nah. Nighttime is when the real festivities begin!" he said with a smile. I relaxed a little. His smile was comforting. "So what about you? What was life like where you're from?" he asked me. I had to think for a minute.

"I don't know. My town in Ohio was a pretty big place. It was easy to get lost in the crowd. Sometimes it got monotonous."

"And your friends?"

"I didn't have many. The few I had were good friends, but they got boring too. I guess there wasn't anything great about that place." Josh nodded as if he understood exactly what I was saying. We walked in silence the rest of the way.

I was staring at the ground, completely lost in thought, when I ran straight into Josh. He had stopped. "We're here," he said excitedly. I looked around him to see exactly where "here" was. What I saw surprised me. It was a lake. The water was tinted a golden red, reflecting the sunset in the sky above. I guess this was the reason why I hadn't seen any other students around campus yet. They were all here.

Hundreds of students were splashing and laughing and running around. Some were sitting up in a poorly made treehouse; Others were swinging on the rope and tire swings. A large group was lounging around a campfire. It looked so cliché that I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. "What's this?" I asked Josh. He smirked.

"It's the annual end of summer party," was his response. "Go have some fun. Meet some people. We only have a big party like this once a year."

"Where are the teachers?" I asked.

"Teachers? You can't invite teachers to a school party, man. Where's your head? You want something to drink?" Before I could respond, he handed me a red plastic cup that he'd grabbed from a table. I took it gratefully and lifted it to my mouth. I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe Hawaiian punch. What I got was definitely not Hawaiian punch. I sputtered and coughed for a moment, staring at Josh with wide eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you not drink?" I couldn't form words to respond. He shrugged and took the cup back, walking away with it. Once I regained my breath, I looked around to assess the party. Only a few people were drinking, but I'm sure more would be too as the night went on.

"Hey!" I heard from behind me. It made me jump. I turned to see who it was. Dana was walking up to me with a cute brunette, whom I assumed was her friend. "Clay, this is Beatrice. We all call her Betty." Was this the Ugly Betty she had mentioned earlier? Because this Betty was not ugly in the least bit. She was actually quite beautiful. "Beatrice, this is Clay. He's Josh's new roommate."

"Hi," I said shyly, giving a little wave. She flashed a smile. It took me a moment to realize that she had braces. It wasn't really the first thing you'd notice about her due to her giant brown eyes. "What are you guys up to?" I asked, directing the question more at Dana than Betty.

"I think they're about to start making hotdogs over by the fire. We're going to go check that out, then we'll probably jump in the lake for a while. You're welcome to join us if you'd like," Betty said quietly. She was extremely soft-spoken. I had no idea why, because her voice was awesome. She spoke with the remains of a British accent.

"Okay, cool. Maybe I'll do that," I replied. "I'm going to see what Josh is up to first. Did you see where he went?"

"Who knows," Dana shrugged. "See ya."


End file.
